BATON ROUGE — LSU track and field head coach Pat Henry has seen the premier athletes in his sport come and go. Somehow, he has always found a way to keep them coming in.
On Tuesday, he announced arguably his finest early signing class ever, receiving letters of intent from six top junior college prospects, as well as two top-level high school athletes.
Henry’s men’s squad will lose a host of All-Americans following the upcoming 2002 season, as jumpers Walter Davis and Marcus Thomas, quarter-milers Alleyne Francique and Lueroy Colquhoun and decathlete Claston Bernard are all seniors.
Henry received six commitments on Tuesday, however, that will help maintain the Tigers’ status among the elite programs in the nation. The Tigers received papers from LeJuan Simon, John Moffitt, Anthony Ewers and Robert Jordan, all of Barton County Community College (Kan.), while inking high school prospects Kelly Willie of Houston, Texas and Paul Thompson of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica.
At the same time, his Lady Tigers bolstered their sprint and middle distance corps with a pair of key junior college signees in Monique Hall, also of Barton, and Neisha Bernard-Thomas of Central Arizona College.
“This is as good an early signing class as we’ve ever had here at LSU,” said Henry. “These are all outstanding athletes that we feel can step right in and contribute. We’ve got a higher number of junior college athletes than usual and fewer gambles among younger athletes. We’re ecstatic that these athletes have decided to attend LSU and we’re ecstatic at the prospect of our future.”
Jordan and Thompson are eligible to join the Tigers in January for the 2002 season. Jordan, a native of Millville, N.J., was the junior college national champion both indoors and outdoors in the high jump and owns a personal best jump of 7 feet 4 inches.
Thompson, a product of Munro College in Jamaica, will enter as a freshman and was a finalist at the World Junior Championships in the 100-meter dash and owns a personal best time of 10.32 seconds.
LSU will look to continue its recent dominance in the horizontal jump with such greats as current Tigers Davis and Thomas and former great LeVar Anderson, with the duo of Simon and Moffitt.
Simon was the junior college national champion in the triple jump and the runner up in the long jump with personal best marks of 53-3 ? and 26-1 respectively. Moffitt was the junior college runner-up in the triple jump and the indoor national champion in the long jump with personal best marks of 53-1 ? and 25-11 respectively.
On the track, Ewers and Willie will help bolster the Tigers’ quarter mile efforts, as two of the top 400-meter prospects in the nation. Ewers was the junior college national runner-up in the 400 indoors and owns an outdoor personal best of 46.79.
Willie was one of the most sought after high school prospects out of Sterling High School in Houston and posted the top quarter mile time by a high schooler in 2001, clocking a time of 46.04.
On the women’s side, Hall was the junior college national champion in the 200 and 400-meter dashes, owning personal best times of 23.28 and 53.72 respectively.
Bernard-Thomas is an instant threat in the 400-meter dash and on the Lady Tigers’ mile relay with a personal best time of 53.80. Bernard-Thomas can also move into middle distance and is a top-level half-miler with a personal best time of 2:06.00.
Henry left the door open for additional signees later this year.